


when the bebop is quiet

by lesbonaruto



Category: Cowboy Bebop (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of a Panic Attack, Nonbinary Character, Spike Has Anxiety, Spike Spiegal Has Feelings, bebop crew as family, ed uses ein as a teddy bear, faye deserves the world, faye sleeps with a teddy bear, faye valentine deserves better then what she got in the show, found family dyanmics, in this house we love and respect women, jett snores, nonbinary ed, they/them pronouns for ed, you can rip that from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 06:23:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20484332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbonaruto/pseuds/lesbonaruto
Summary: When the engines of the bebop are quiet, Spike likes to watch his crew sleep.





	when the bebop is quiet

**Author's Note:**

> just a drabble, because I've read far too many fics that make it seem like Spike doesn't care one way or another, and I want to reiterate, he does.

When the engines of the bebop are quiet, Spike likes to watch his crew sleep.

He knows it’s strange. Hell, it’s more than a little creepy to watch over people while they sleep. But he couldn’t help himself; when he woke up from another nightmare or had been tossing and turning in bed for hours, he needed to get up and do something. And it calmed his stuttering heart to see the crew of the Bebop sleeping peacefully. 

Jett rarely slept, but when he did he snored like a bear. He was often up late hours into the night, clipping his bonsai trees or whatever else he did to relax. He was the last one to fall asleep, every time. But every night, eventually, Jett would drag himself from the main room with a big sigh and yawn, pad his way down to his room, and shrug on his pajamas. And what cute pajamas they were! Spike had a feeling if Jett ever found out another member of the crew had seen his pajamas, he would fly the ship into a star himself. The man just didn’t want to admit he had a soft side. Spike would sit with Jett in the main room for hours, slowly nodding off, and then head to his own room once Jett had left. And on nights where he dreamed about Julia and Vicious and roses in rainwater, he would make his way over to Jett’s door and peak inside. Even from outside the hatch, he could hear his snoring. Jett was a still sleeper, a rock to steady him. So Spike would settle himself in front of the door and count his friends breathes until the shaking had subsided and the sweat on his neck had cooled. Then he would drift off to sleep. 

Faye was a light sleeper. She also tossed and turned, calling out in her sleep for someone who had left her long ago. She had almost caught him several times, as he opened the hatch to her room to slip inside. She had a bear that she slept with, a relic of the past, and when she knocked it off her bed he would pick it back up and place it back on. Her room always smelled like lotion and perfume and crying. He noticed her pillows were stained with tears, and sometimes he wanted to reach out and wipe them from her cheeks. That urge continued to burn inside of him, an ache drawing him to sweep the hair back from her sweat soaked forehead and caress her face where the tear tracks were carved. He wanted to hold her and take away everything that made her cry in her dreams. She would often wake up while he let himself out of her room, and he would pretend to be making his way to the bathroom so as to alleviate suspicion. 

Ed slept like a child, bending themself into the strangest positions and contorting their body in search of sleep. Their favorite position was the fetal one though, to be curled around Ein completely. And that, Spike thought, he couldn’t blame them for. If that damn dog were to sleep in his bed, he might use him like a stuffed animal too. They fell asleep the fastest, sometimes dozing off on one of the couches in the main room, leading one of the others to pick them up and carry them to their room. That person was usually Jett, but Spike always loved taking the opportunity to pick the kid up and tuck them in goodnight. He staunchly affirmed to anyone that would listen how much he hated kids, but something about having Edward in his arms, drool spilling out of their mouth as they muttered something about programming left Spike with an unusually warm feeling in his chest. Something he would never, ever admit to. But Edward slept through it all, never once stirring. The kid really had a knack for sleeping through anything. Sometimes he would run his fingers through their hair, petting them and Ein equally, until the only thing that mattered was the soft strands between his fingers. 

The warm feeling would grow sometimes, in the slow hours of the morning or the quiet hours of the night, when the crew of the Bebop would just sit together and go through their routines. Jett would be reading whichever newspaper he managed to get his hands on, making toast with one hand and adjusting his glasses with another. He would squint down at the latest news stories, searching for bounties, and end up getting jam all over the paper. Ed would be sitting in the corner, watching two TV shows at a time and giggling to Ein about something. Their favorite TV shows were cartoons so absurd most adults would have trouble understanding them, along with the occasional TV drama. Faye would be doing her nails, reading something much more lewd than Jett’s paper, or looking at various catalogs. Her favorite game was to look at fashion catalogs and firearms at the same time, and try to find an evening gown that matched best with a sleek handgun. Spike would smoke on the couch and just watch everyone go about their daily routines. It calmed him. They could have all been completely seperate people living completely separate lives, and yet here they were, together. Barely interacting, yet reveling in each other's company all the same. Occasionally Jet would ask Ed to turn on a cooking show, to which Spike would respond that he wanted to watch the news, to which Faye would counter that she wanted to catch a new spy thriller that was only on air that week. They’d have a quick argument about which to choose, while Ed ignored all of them and continued to watch cartoons. Eventually everyone would settle down and stop talking altogether, content to bask in silence and the warmth of company. They were all lonely, in their own ways. 

So, on nights when Spike dreamed of cold cobbled streets and rain and roses, when his skin would become clammy with sweat and his heart would pound and tears would run down his eyes, when he started disassociating with his surroundings, he would check on his crew members. First Jett, sound asleep and snoring like a bear. Then Faye, a little calmer once she had her bear back in her hands. Then Ed, curled up around a corgi like they were fused together, drooling and mumbling. And once he knew they were all safe and breathing, he would go back to his room, and the dreams would fade.

**Author's Note:**

> please drop a comment, let me know what you thought!


End file.
